And the Manchester City boss has no doubt the nosedive in form that Sterling had suffered will quickly be forgotten if he maintains his scintillating start to the season.

Sterling has arguably been the biggest beneficiary from the early days of Guardiola’s Etihad revolution.

The £49m signing from Liverpool looks a different player from the one who stuttered through his first season with City and flopped for England in the Euros.

He is still a target for opposition supporters - with Stoke fans the latest to give him stick in City’s 4-1 weekend romp at the Britannia.

But Guardiola said: “The fans may boo because they know how good he is.

“He showed me from the start that he is strong, mentally strong. He has just focussed on his job, on the game. That’s it.

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“He showed me from the start that he is mentally strong”

Pep Guardiola

“When that happens he is going to do good things for us and the England national team. I’m pretty sure of that.

“Just focus and the people will stop taking about what happened off the pitch, and just talk about what happens on the pitch.

“Everything is going well, I’m pretty sure of that.”

Meanwhile, Guardiola has warned another emerging English star he still has a long way to go to be considered among the world’s best.

John Stones, the £47.5 million signing from Everton, has made an impressive start to his career at the Etihad and even drew comparisions with Barcelona great Gerard Pique from pundit Gary Neville.

But Guardiola is trying to keep Stones’ feet on the ground when it comes to such wild praise.

Guardiola said: “Gerard is a reality, one of the best or the best central defenders in the world.

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FORGET ABOUT IT: Guardiola hailed Sterling

“John is a huge young player with a lot of work in front of him, and we are here to help him.

“Gerard did everything in world football and John is just starting to create his career hopefully in this club for a long time.”

The City boss is also trying his best to prevent his whole squad from getting carried away when they face Steaua Bucharest tonight with a whopping 5-0 first-leg lead.

There seems no possibility City could let such an advantage slip but Guardiola was trying to convince the media yesterday - just as he will his players - that the tie is not over.

He promised to make changes to his line-up but will order his stars to remember the famous 2005 Champions League final won by Liverpool against Milan as they look to take their place in the group stages.

He said: “Why wouldn’t we respect our opponent and take them seriously? We play to try to win the game.

“I have seen many times in the Champions League, at half-time an experienced team like AC Milan 3-0 ahead and the final is done.

“But Liverpool won the Champions League final. That Milan was Maldini, Cafu, more experienced guys.

“I have known we have a huge advantage. Our pre-season was focussed to prepare the team especially for this game.

“Why would we play thinking it’s done? It’s not done.

“It’s 90 minutes with a big advantage but I said to the players, ‘Sorry guys, we aren’t in the Champions League already’.

“We are almost in the Champions League but we have to play 90 minutes and respect Steaua Bucharest and play seriously.”

City will be without Bacary Sagna and long-term injury victims Vincent Kompany, Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gundogan tonight but Guardiola expects all four to be available for the Manchester derby on September 10.